Perry Calls for No-Fly Zone In Syria, Would Act Unilaterally Without UN Authorization

Texas Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t said much about Libya on the presidential campaign trail but he did call Muammar Qaddafi’s death last month “good news for the people of Libya.” Earlier this evening on Fox News, Perry said he’d “absolutely” support instituting a Libya-style no-fly zone in Syria and do so without a United Nations blessing:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Would you do what we did in Libya which is institute a no-fly zone over Syria? If you were the president would you advocate that we do that in Syria?

PERRY: Absolutely. Absolutely. …

BILL KRISTOL: And you’d do that I suppose unilaterally without waiting for the U.N. to approve it?

PERRY: I would not spend a lot of time waiting for the U.N. I will tell you that my position on the U.N. is if they continue to go around as the Palestinian state tried to do. We need to sit down as a country and have a conversation about, is the continued funding of the United Nations in the best interest of America.

Watch the clip:

This marks the first time a Republican candidate for president has called for a no-fly zone in Syria. But given that Perry wants to end civilian control of the military, the decision to implement that policy wouldn’t be his in a Perry administration.

Perry Calls for No-Fly Zone In Syria, Would Act Unilaterally Without UN Authorization

Texas Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t said much about Libya on the presidential campaign trail but he did call Muammar Qaddafi’s death last month “good news for the people of Libya.” Earlier this evening on Fox News, Perry said he’d “absolutely” support instituting a Libya-style no-fly zone in Syria and do so without a United Nations blessing:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Would you do what we did in Libya which is institute a no-fly zone over Syria? If you were the president would you advocate that we do that in Syria?

PERRY: Absolutely. Absolutely. …

BILL KRISTOL: And you’d do that I suppose unilaterally without waiting for the U.N. to approve it?

PERRY: I would not spend a lot of time waiting for the U.N. I will tell you that my position on the U.N. is if they continue to go around as the Palestinian state tried to do. We need to sit down as a country and have a conversation about, is the continued funding of the United Nations in the best interest of America.

Watch the clip:

This marks the first time a Republican candidate for president has called for a no-fly zone in Syria. But given that Perry wants to end civilian control of the military, the decision to implement that policy wouldn’t be his in a Perry administration.